Plans for a new Starbucks brewing in Forks Township

Two closed businesses and a home on Sullivan Trail in Forks Township could be demolished and turned into a Starbucks, two restaurants and a retail store, according to plans submitted to the township supervisors.The site for the potential new stores fronts Sullivan Trail and Town Center Boulevard and would require demolishing the closed Rita’s ice, Aqua Pools store and a single family home, according to a copy of the proposal.In its place would be a 1,994 square foot Starbucks with a drive-through, two 1,680 square-foot restaurants and a 3,240-square foot retail business, according to the plan.The more than one-acre site would have 54 parking spaces, a sidewalk along the streets and traffic would enter and exit on both Sullivan Trail and Town Center Boulevard, according to the plan.The plans are in the preliminary stage and briefly reviewed by the township supervisors Thursday night because the project would require a conditional use permit because of the Starbucks drive-through, said Supervisor Erik Chuss.The sketch plan was prepared by The Crossroads Group, a civil engineering firm in Hamburg, Berks County, and the developer is listed as Cedarwood Properties LLC.No formal plans for the project have been submitted to township officials.In other business, the supervisors appointed Tim Hughes to the board of supervisors to fill a vacancy left after the May resignation of Supervisor Ed Moore. Moore resigned because he was moving out of the township into Easton.Hughes has lived in the township for 27 years and is employed as a domain manager for SE2 in Bridgewater, N.J.The 59-year-old is married with two children and has a bachelors degree in business administration from Adelphi University in Garden City N.Y. He is a native of Floral Park, N.Y.He is a Republican who said Thursday night that this is his first time holding a public office, which will expire Dec. 31. However, he said he will be on the ballot in November running for the position of supervisor.He views his move into public office as a chance to give something to the township.I want to give back to the township. It’s a great community to live and work and I want to maintain that,’’ he said.Some of the areas he said he is most concerned with is overdevelopment and traffic.The supervisors also gave the green light to township police Chief Greg Dorney to move ahead with a plan to place a police officer in the Career Institute of Technology on Kesslerville Road.Dorney said he will enter into discussions with the administrators at the vocational/technical school to have the officer work in the school full time or the 180 days of the school year.The school currently has no police presence, about which Dorney said,It’s sad that our society has reached this point. But it is very rare today to go to a school without a police officer in it.’’He said the arrangement would be that a veteran township officer would be the school resource officer for the 2019-2020 school year and a new officer would be hired for patrol duties. In the summer months he said the resource officer would move back to regular police duties.He added that the school would pay for half of the cost of officer while the township would pay the other half. He estimated the cost to the township would be between $38,000 to $42,000.Charles Malinchak is a freelance writer for The Morning Call.
Source: Morningcall